MACC questions Muhyiddin

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over a report that claimed a government contract worth more than a billion ringgit was handed to his relative, says a source.

According to the source, MACC is also about to complete its investigation paper into the alleged RM300mil received by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia from the Covid-19 stimulus package funds.

Muhyiddin, who is Bersatu president, was not questioned on the alleged stimulus package funds, said the source.

“It was over misappropriations under the programme called Jana Wibawa, which was to empower bumiputra contractors during his tenure as the eighth prime minister in 2020.”

The Pagoh MP has reiterated that he was not involved in awarding any government contracts to his family members when he was prime minister.

Instead, he said the contracts went through the procurement process, which was overseen by the Finance Ministry.

Muhyiddin’s former principle private secretary Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad has also been adamant that it was the Finance Ministry that approved the contractors for the Jana Wibawa programme.

“As secretary of the then prime minister, I received a request from the Finance Ministry for the Prime Minister’s office to check on the ability of the companies applying for Jana Wibawa.

“I referred the matter to Muhyiddin, and he said: ‘No. The PMO should not be involved at all. We don’t have the authority to do so.’

“I then wrote to the Treasury head to say the checks and evaluations of the companies must be done by the Finance Ministry instead,” he said in a Facebook post.

On Wednesday, Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamid announced that some RM5.7bil in projects under the Jana Wibawa programme had been temporarily halted until the Treasury’s procurement and expenditure procedures were followed.

He said the Finance Ministry had ordered the temporary stop as some of the work had been done through direct procurements.

“The policy adopted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also Finance Minister, is to review whether the procurement procedures involving each expenditure followed the rules set by the Treasury.

“About RM5.7bil worth of these projects has been halted, and my ministry has decided that the procedures set by the Treasury must be fully complied with,” said Ahmad Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, at a press conference at the Parliament media centre.